Richard Ihetu, Dick Tiger

Richard Ihetu (more famously known as "Dick Tiger"), born in August 1929, was an Igbo man from Amaigbo in what is now Imo State. Early in his life he emigrated to England and later to the United States, where he embraced a career in boxing. In his profession as a middleweight boxer, he fought vehemently and floored opponents of all colors and races, disproving the then stereotypical assumption that black men were inferior to men of other races. His victories in the ring eventually made him a two-time undisputed world middleweight champion.

Prior to the outbreak of the Nigerian-Biafran war, he was personally awarded a Commander of the British Empire award by Queen Elizabeth II, for his success as a world-famous boxer. At the outbreak of the war, after realizing how Great Britain was unduly funding Nigeria's genocide against the Igbo people, he returned his medals to the Queen, quit his boxing career, and enlisted in the Biafran army.

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